Yeah, this guy is just a symptom, not the problem. It's obvious to me that when the efforts of TeamBush to blame Kathleen Blanco and Ray Nagin
failed, somebody had to be the fall guy for this mess---Bush sure as hell wasn't going to accept any responsibility, the thin-skinned little sh*t
never does---and Brown is now the sacrificial scapegoat. For now, I'm betting the media will act like the "problem has been solved," but the truth
is, of course, that as long as TeamBush are in office, the problem is never solved.
---Ryan

Originally posted by RyanC
Yeah, this guy is just a symptom, not the problem. It's obvious to me that when the efforts of TeamBush to blame Kathleen Blanco and Ray Nagin
failed..

They are not off the hook by a long shot - the hearings haven't even started. It seems like none of the LA Democrats want to be re-elected:

MARY LANDREAU
Louisiana senator Mary Landreau says that it was not the local administration's fault that the buses were not used to evacuate people before the
Hurricane because Mayor Nagin has trouble getting his people to work on a sunny day never mind when a hurricane is coming.... (on Fox News Sunday on
9/11/05)

It seems to me that the LA politicians have a very poor view of their constituency.

The local Louisiana Dems have a lot to answer for as well, but TeamBush proved, in my opinion, incompetent beyond all expectations in this one. If you
can defend even so much as one aspect of the FEMA/Bush/Cheney response, I'd love to see it. Let's face it---for the first time, ever probably in his
pampered and spolied coke-head, frat-boy life---Bush needs to be held accountable here. No shifting the blame to a lackey. If he wants to be known as
the President who ushered in a "responsibility society"---then he needs to learn to accept some himself.
---Ryan

Wait I thought he was just "moved". All I see on Fox is well, nothing. Nothing on Brown, nothing on "attacks" in Los Angelas, nothing. Man
isn't this the guy who before was judging horses? How did he get the job?

Seriously, I doubt that any investigation into the Katerina fiasco will have any major repercussions. Brown will be offered a cushy job with one oif
BushCo's contributor's and will keep his mouth shut out of loyalty (and a fear of persecution/prosecution).

He was "moved" last Friday. That was actually the beginning of the end of his FEMA career. Bush is fiercely loyal to his staff, to a fault, and a
move like this comes with a strong suggestion to resign. He was given the weekend to save some face and make it look like the resignation was his own
idea.

I was flipping through the channels, including Fox News, and saw plenty of coverage of the power outage in LA. Occasional mention of the threat, too,
but nobody was jumping to conclusions, that I saw. Good thing, too, since it turned out to be human error after all.

The interesting thing about this distaster, is that actually it's up to the STATE not the Fed, to initiate calls for supplies and equipment.
Everyone seems to be thinking that it's the fault of the Fed, but the way the system works, is that the state (governor and local govt) needs to
declare the state of emergency (which they did) and begin to request resources (which they didn't do nearly enough of).

I agree that it was the best thing to have Brown step down because of his attitude in early interviews "well they chose to stay in spite of the
mandatory evacuation order so it's their fault."

However, it's funny how everyone puts it all on Bush, POTUS has actually zero involvement in the commanding of FEMA's game plans as they exist
today. In fact it's good that we have a distributed government ... do you really WANT that much responsibility to be in the hands of one person?

I can't believe that nobody is faulting the governor and the mayor who ultimately way underestimated the impact.

* Why didn't Mayor Nagin provide for food for the people that they expected in the dome, BEFORE the storm hit? Perhaps he was so caught up in the
excitement of the thing that he was not thinking practically.

* Why didn't Gov. Blanco provide for an evacuation plan for people that could not afford to leave the city? It's just not enough for a governor to
just start crying in times of stress as we all saw on TV, and then miraculously expect the magic president to suddenly appear like a little genie from
the lamp!

At the same time, Bush COULD have done something and chose not to, but he's really not required to do anything as it is delegated to the affected
state(s) and FEMA entirely.

There are many good reasons for this ... what if the president is missing, for example.

Excellent post, grad_student. Not many people understand who pulls which triggers in a disaster like this, and are quick to blame the POTUS.

Besides the reason you listed (president missing), another good reason for this protocol is that the feds should not overrule state sovereignty. They
should not be able to just waltz into a state and take over. Bush has recently said that he thinks stronger laws should be enacted to allow the
feds to take charge in a crisis situation, without the request coming from the governor. I'm not sure how I feel about that, though. There are good
arguments on both sides of the aisle for that.

You have voted grad_student for the Way Above Top Secret award. You have used all of your votes for this month.

Good point jsobecky
They should not be able to just waltz into a state and take over.....unless NO is in a persistant vegatative state.(sorry Terry)
I think it bugs people that an administration who has proven what it thinks of states rights (see Scheivo) didn't step in on an issue that truly has
tragic disaster and national economic repercussions, but will override states rights to further it's rightwing moral agenda.

Plus the Governor should have had the LA guard at her disposal but Bush yanked them away so he is more responsible than usual in a situation like
this.

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